Compared to Grafana v10.x, Grafana V11.x has made improvements in dashboards, transformations, panels, Explore, Alerting, foundational capabilities, and enterprise-grade features, enhancing the usability of Grafana.
This topic describes only several updates in Grafana V11.x. For more information, see Grafana documentation.
1. Dashboards and visualization
Grafana V11.x has made major updates to the Dashboards architecture to provide more stable, dynamic, and flexible dashboards. Some of the main improvements are described below.
A. View mode and Edit mode
By introducing edit mode, the visual effect is enhanced and a simpler interactive experience is provided.
In View mode, dashboards are clean.
In Edit mode, options such as adding a panel and changing settings are easily accessible.
B. Template variables and time picker
The time picker has been moved from the toolbar into the dashboard variable bar. When you scroll the dashboard, the time picker will stick to the top, along with template variables.
C. Timezone parameter in Grafana URL
A new timezone URL parameter.
D. Dashboard controls in TV mode and Kiosk mode
When playing a playlist or displaying a dashboard in full screen in TV mode or Kiosk mode, you can use the following URL parameters to show or hide controls:
_dash.hideTimePicker: hides the time and refresh picker._dash.hideVariables: hides variables and annotations controls._dash.hideLinks: hides dashboard links.
E. Subfolders
Subfolders are generally available in all editions of the Grafana 11 release.
You can create subfolders in folders where you have permissions to edit or manage without any additional permissions.
Folder browsing
Folder moving
Permission management: You can grant users the minimum necessary permissions to ensure instance security.
F. Library panels and overrides
The library panel tab is no longer available.
In Grafana V11.3.0, the Overrides tab has been added to the panel options. Overrides are shown at the bottom of the option list.
In Grafana V11.3.0, a drop-down menu has been added to collapse the visualization picker.
In Grafana V11.3.0, the Share button has become visible when Edit mode is enabled.
In Cell Inspect, table cell values are automatically formatted.
2. Transformations
In addition to easy-to-visualize interaction modes, new transformations, such as Filter data by values, Partition by values, Transpose, Format string, Group to nested tables, and Add field from calculation, have been added in Grafana V11.x.
A. Variables
Template variables are supported for the Limit, Sort by, Filter data by values, Grouping to matrix, Heatmap, and Histogram transformations.
B. Filter data by values
In the Filter data by values transformation, you only need to add a condition, select a field, select a matcher, and then enter the string you want to match.
C. Transpose
The new Transpose transformation allows you to pivot the data frame by converting rows into columns and columns into rows. This transformation is useful for data sources that do not support pivot queries, enabling more flexible and insightful data visualizations.
D. Group to nested tables
The Group to nested tables transformation groups table data by specified fields and performs calculations on each group. With this transformation, you can enhance the depth and utility of table visualizations.
E. Format string
The Format string transformation is now generally available. It provides a convenient way to standardize and tailor the presentation of string data for better visualization and analysis by formatting string data to upper, lower, and title case.
F. Add field from calculation
The Add field from calculation transformation is now generally available. When you use it to set up a binary operation (for example, dividing each column by a certain value), you can select a new All Number Fields option.
3. Panel
In Grafana V11.x, updates have been made to numerous panels including Business Charts, Table, Stat, GeoMap, Bar gauge, State timeline, and XY chart. These updates provide a richer, more flexible configuration and visualization experience.
A. Panel plugins
To help administrators manage Grafana plugins more easily, Grafana V11.x has redesigned the plugin details page to highlight important metadata. As shown in the figures below, this includes support for richer icon visualizations for the Business Charts (Apache ECharts) component.
B. AI-powered enhancement (LLM plugin)
In Grafana V11.x, you can use generative AI to assist in Grafana dashboards. Currently, generative AI can help you generate panel and dashboard titles and descriptions.
Before AI-powered enhancement, make sure that you have enabled and configured the Grafana LLM plugin. For more information, see LLM plugin.
Install LLM plugin
Generate a title and description
C. Data links and actions for visualizations
In Grafana V11.x, the Data links and actions section has been added to the panel options. You can add actions that can each be configured to call an API endpoint.
The following visualizations support adding actions: Bar chart, Candlestick, Heatmap, State timeline, Status history, Time series, Trend, and XY chart.
Data links and actions
Edit action
D. Canvas
In Grafana V11.x, the canvas visualization supports flowcharting, universal data link support, and infinite panning.
a. Enhanced flowcharting functionality
Adds widely-used elements, such as cloud, parallelogram, and triangle.
Adds midpoint controls, so that the connectors do not have to be straight lines.
Adds more connector styles, including dashed lines as well as corner radius and direction control.
Supports horizontal and vertical snapping for connectors.
Adds rounded corner styling for elements.
Supports rotating elements in the canvas.
b. Infinite panning of canvases
In Grafana V11.x, you can zoom in or out canvases.
To try this update, you must first enable the canvasPanelPanZoom feature toggle.
c. Universal data link support
Before Grafana V11.x, you can only add data links to text elements or elements that use the TextConfig object. In Grafana V11.x, almost all canvas elements support data links and actions.
E. XY chart
In Grafana V11.x, XY charts are no longer in public preview, but are generally available.
To use the XY chart visualization, you must first enable the autoMigrateXYChartPanel feature toggle.
XY charts enables visualizing arbitrary x and y values in a graph so that you can easily show the relationship between two variables. XY charts are typically used to create scatter plots. You can also use them to create bubble charts where field values determine the size of each bubble.
Sample XY chart:
F. Table
Grafana V11.x adds the ability to color full table rows using the Colored Background cell type of the table visualization.
a. Colored table rows with conditional formatting
You can map status fields to colors, such as
info,debug, orwarning, and allow rows to be colored based on thresholds.
If thresholds are set, the field background is displayed in the appropriate threshold color.
b. Table cell text wrapping
Grafana V11.1 supports wrapping of text within cells.
Table cell text wrapping of all columns
Table cell text wrapping of specified columns
G. Stat
The stat visualization supports the percent change color option.
H. GeoMap
Grafana V11.x supports using the GeoMap visualization with a keyboard. You can focus on the map area, move around with arrows keys, and zoom in and out by using + and-.
I. State timeline
The state timeline visualization now supports pagination. The Page size option allows you to paginate the state timeline visualization to limit the number of series that are visible at one time. Previously, all series in a state timeline fit within the single window of the panel, and is difficult to be read.
J. Bar gauge
Grafana V11.x has added legend support to the bar gauge visualization, which is generally available. This standardizes legends and makes them available across more panels.
4. Data source
A. Authorization
Data sources support authorization by role, user, service account, and team.
B. Other updates
a. CloudWatch Metric Insights cross-account observability support
Cross-account querying in Metric Insights query builder for AWS CloudWatch Plugin is supported. This enables building SQL queries to monitor across multiple accounts in the same region in AWS CloudWatch.
b. Zendesk, Catchpoint Enterprise, and Yugabyte data source support in Grafana V11.x
c. GitHub App authentication for the GitHub data source
GitHub App authentication offers enhanced security by granting more granular permissions, reducing the risk of over-permissioning. For more information, see GitHub data source documentation.
5. Explore
In Grafana V11.x, in addition to the original Explore feature, the separate menus of Explorer Metrics, Explorer Logs, Explorer Traces, and Explorer Profiles are supported.
Explorer Traces and Explorer Profiles are not visible in Grafana V11.3.x.
A. Explore
The Explore feature adds a left-side navigation menu for quick positioning.
Grafana V11.x supports forward direction search for Loki logs. This allows you to seamlessly browse logs in a time range in forward chronological order. Logs filtering and pinning
Correlations allow you to set up links between data sources. This way, you can link to external URLs based on the search results.
B. Explore Metrics
With Explore Metrics, you can browse Prometheus metrics without querying them.
a. Recent metrics and bookmarks
Recent metrics and bookmarks make it easy to perform analysis.
b. Metric filtering and viewing of a specified data source
On the Metrics page, select a data source to view or filter the metrics.
c. History
You can navigate through historical metrics and filters.
d. Metric analysis
You can select a metric to view the summary, drill down data, and relevant metrics on the metric details page.
Drill down
Relevant metrics
C. Explore Logs
With Explore Metrics, you can browse Loki logs without querying them.
You can view log volume and log line samples when you first land in Explore Logs.
You can view logs without LogQL to filter out noise or focus on anomalies.
Power users can easily use the familiar Explore while preserving context.
6. Alerting
Grafana V11.x has redesigned the alerting settings page.
A. Alertmanager optimization
Alert settings
Alertmanager configuration
Alertmanager configuration comparison
B. Contact points OAuth2 support
In addition to Basic Auth and TLS, Oauth2 authentication is supported for contact points.
C. Alerting template selector
Alerting template selector allows you to select templates for simplify sending alert notifications.
D. Simplified query and conditions for alert rule creation
To create more complex rules, switch to advanced options to add multiple queries and expressions.
To try this update, you must first enable the alertingQueryAndExpressionsStepMode feature toggle.
E. Optimized execution and notification settings for alert rule creation
Alert rule execution and notification settings have been redesigned.
F. Alert rule detail view redesign
The paused alert visibility has been improved.
The new alert rule detail view now has metadata at the top. Alert details can be viewed from tabs below:
Query and conditions: View the details of the query used for the alert rule.
Instances: Explore each alert instance, as well as its status, tags, and various other metadata.
History: Explore the recorded history for an alert rule.
Details: Debug or audit using the alert rule metadata (such as rule ID) and view the alert rule annotations.
G. Keep Last State option
The alert history displays a bar chart of recent alert events, and it allows you to view the state of each alert individually. The Keep Last State option is supported to keep the last state of an alert rule.
H. RBAC
Contact points, silences, and notifications support Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
7. Updates of other foundational capabilities
Grafana V11.x has updated many foundational capabilities.
A. LDAP in the UI
To try this update, you must first enable the alertingQueryAndExpressionsStepMode feature toggle.
B. Bookmarks
Bookmarks have been added to the navigation so that you can easily access all your favorite pages at the top of the navigation.
To try this update, you must first enable the pinNavItems feature toggle in Grafana V11.2 or later.
C. Other updates
Additionally, Grafana V11.x has introduced updates to other foundational capabilities, such as improvements to the title display, reduced transitions and animations, billing for anonymous users in Grafana Enterprise, and a new strong password policy.
8. Enterprise-grade capabilities
A. Announcement banner
You can display customizable banners in the UI to ensure the visibility and timeliness of critical information.
This update is available in public preview in Grafana Cloud and Enterprise.
To use the announcement banner in self-managed Grafana, you must first enable the
notificationBannerfeature toggle in Grafana V11.3 or later.
B. PDF export
This update is available in public preview in Grafana Cloud and Enterprise.
To try this update, you must first enable the
newPDFRenderingfeature.
Previously, exporting an SLO dashboard containing about 200 panels took more than seven minutes, whereas now it takes only eleven seconds.
C. Grafana Cloud Migration Assistant
Migrating from Object Storage Service (OSS) or Enterprise Grafana to Grafana Cloud is complex, requiring technical knowledge of Grafana HTTP API and time-consuming manual processes. However, the new Grafana Cloud Migration Assistant provides a user-friendly interface that automates the migration of your resources.
Start migration and create a token.
Complete the migration.
NoteThis update is available in public preview in Grafana Open Source and Enterprise.
